Pfizer again boosted its 2021 profit and revenue outlook on Tuesday, bolstered by the latest surge in Covid-19 vaccinations, including regulatory approvals for boosters and shots for younger children.
The company now expects to deliver 2.3 billion doses in 2021 of the Covid-19 vaccine jointly produced with Germany’s BioNTech, 200 million more than its previous forecast in July, as it announced an increase in its research and development budget tied to the vaccination push.
US health authorities on Friday approved Pfizer’s vaccine for children aged five to 11, paving the way for 28 million young Americans to soon get the shot against the disease.
The company’s shares rallied on the announcement, which comes on the heels of similar upbeat earnings in May and July also showing how the vaccine has transformed the drugmaker’s financial performance over the last year.
“Despite all we have been able to accomplish to date, we remain focused on our future, not our past,” said Chief Executive Albert Bourla. “Our ultimate goal is to help bring this pandemic to an end as quickly as possible, but also to apply the lessons we have learned through our work on the vaccine to all of our therapeutic areas.”
Bourla said the company had about three-fourths of the US market share in late October and about 80 percent in the European Union, the result “of our booster being the first to receive emergency use authorization and our two-dose series being preferred by some countries around the world for use in certain younger populations.”
– More research planned –
In the most recent quarter, the company brought in $24.1 billion in revenue, more than double the level in the year-ago period, with $13 billion coming tied to the Covid-19 vaccine.
Pfizer now projects total 2021 revenues for the vaccine of $36 billion, up from $33.5 billion in 2020.
Profits shot up to $8.1 billion, compared with $1.5 billion in the year-ago period.
Pfizer increased 2021 its research and development budget by $400 million due to more projects on Covid-19 vaccines and related mRNA-based projects, now estimating spending in a range of between $10.4 billion and $10.9 billion.
The press release describes clinical research on an Influenza mRNA vaccine under development, “the first in a planned wave of Pfizer investigational programs leveraging mRNA technology for Pfizer.”
Bourla has spoken of the potential for Covid-19 vaccines to produce “durable demand,” similar to that of the flu vaccine.
While Pfizer’s financial performance has thrived thanks to the Covid-19 vaccine, the company has been criticized by non-governmental organizations for placing profits above public health in its dealings with governments over the shot.
A recent report by advocacy group Public Citizen accused the company of “bullying” authorities and called for the US government to assume greater leverage with the company.
Pfizer has defended its actions, saying in Tuesday’s press release that it plans to sell the US government one billion doses “at a not-for-profit price to be donated to the world’s poorest nations at no charge to those countries.”
Excluding the Covid-19 vaccine, Pfizer lowered its 2021 revenue forecast slightly and raised its profit outlook modestly.
The company saw higher sales of anti-blood clot drug Eliquis and of the heart drug Vyndaqel.
Sales were dented somewhat by a recall of Chantix, an anti-smoking drug. Pfizer enacted a voluntary recall of the drug due to a “theoretical potential increased cancer risk in humans,” the Food and Drug Administration said in September.
Pfizer shares jumped 3.0 percent to $44.96 in pre-market trading.
